Aim: It is not well documented which dental traits predominantly motivate patients to seek orthodontic therapy. This study was designed to recognize anterior occlusal traits that impact the perception of dental esthetics in patients with different types of malocclusion seeking orthodontic treatment. Materials and Methods: Forty‑fve pairs of intraoral photographs belonging to patients with various malocclusions were selected for this study. Each pair of photographs included a frontal view and a right-side view of the patient’s occlusion at maximum intercuspation. A total of 60 laypersons (30 males and 30 females) were requested to rate the overall appearance of the dentition in the photographs, using a 100 mm line that served as a visual analog scale. The study models of the patients were evaluated by a single investigator to determine the amount of overjet, overbite, crowding, and midline deviation. A multiple linear regression analysis was employed to detect the dental features that predicted the overall attractiveness of the dentition. Results: The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that according to the judgment of female, male, and total female and male raters, overall dental attractiveness could be predicted by two features, the crowding of upper arch (P < 0.05) and overbite (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Dental attractiveness could be predicted by two main variables including upper anterior crowding and overbite. Suffcient priority should be accorded to these factors in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning to decrease the probability of misinterpretation of patients’ expectation from treatment.

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